Building element



June 1936- I N, P. HARSHBERGER 2,043,959

BUILDING ELEMENT Original Filed Sept. 20, 1950 magi Z9 scum" H F nu H DH D ZZZH: ZZZL U- H H- H 720m lN NTOR. d XL 1 ATTORNEYfl- Patented Jane9, 1936 Norman P. Harshberger, Scarsdale,

flmr to'Bakelite Bull New .York, N. Z,

N. Y., as-

ding Products Co. Inc., a corporation of Delaware Original applicationSeptember 20, 1930, Serial Divided and this application October 10,1932, Serial No. 636,972

30laims.

This invention relates to improvements in building elements, and is adivision of copending application Serial rid-483,310, filed September20, 1930.

In the copending application above referred to, there is disclosed anapparatus for'and method of applying coloring to building material toproduce relatively large units having lines of demarcation thereon, theunits being adapted to cooperate with one another on the roof in a novelmanner to simulate a plurality of relatively small figures, and moreparticularly, to simulate a brick siding eilect. The present applicationrelates more particularly to the shingle unit itself.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a shingleunit of relatively large size having a plurality of lines of demarcationdelineated thereon, in which the unit is so shaped that it can be cut inan economical manner and so shaped that it will cooperate with othersimilar units to simulate a plurality of small sized figures, and at thesame time cover the roof in an effective and economical manner. A morespecific object of the invention is to provide building elements havingopposite ends cut in stepped formation, the said stepped edges bearing adefinite relationship with lines of demarcation on the elements.

A still more specific object of the invention is to provide buildingelements having a novel form of locking means for causing propercooperation of the units with one another on a roof and for holding downportions of the elements to prevent curling and the like.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of theimproved building elements and all parts and combinations thereof as setforth in the claims, and all equivalents.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating one complete embodiment of thepreferred form of the invention in which the same reference numeralsdesignate the same parts in all of the views:

Fig. l is a fragmentary plan view of a stencil belt showing the mannerof applying coloring material or the like to an elongated web in themanner fully set forth and described in copending application Serial No.483,310;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the cutting roller used to producethe building elements forming the subject matter of this invention;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the improved element; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing an assembly of a 55 plurality of saidelements.

thereon.

Inasmuch as the apertures 29 of the stencil belt must be separated atintervals, as at 30, so that portions of the belt will not fall away,the lines of demarcation which will be applied to the web, 15 will bebroken at intervals. For this reason, copending application beforereferred to discloses the use of a printer arranged to apply coloringmaterial to the short sections of the web'which are below the portions30 of the stencil belt. The 20 web will therefore leave the printingroller with continuous lines of demarcation 3| thereon. Next, the web issevered longitudinally and transversely by knives 23 of a, cuttingroller 22, as fully set forth in copending application to' produce 25from each side of the web a plurality of figured elements such as areillustrated in Fig. 3. Fig. 2 shows a partial development of the cuttingroll and knives in which the upper and lower horizontal lines of thefigure represent the end edges 30 of the cutting roll.

Each of said elements is then cut inwardly from its lower edge, as at32, to form a slit for engage- .ment with a lug 33 of an adjacentelement. The

shingles produced may be laid as shown in Fig. 35 4 with adjacentelements in the same course having overlapping ends which areinterlocked through the medium of the lugs and slits 33 and 32, thelower edge of one course of elements overlapping the upperedge of acourse below as shown in Fig. 4 to create an effect of a plurality ofbricklike figures.

It is to be noted that the step-like end edges of the individualelements cooperate with the lines of demarcation to produce verydefinite effects, and that said step-like edges make it possible for theelements to be cut out from an elongated web without waste. It is to benoted that the lugs 33 in cutting, form spaces 34 at the other end ofeach element, but that said spaces appear on ends of the elements whichare overlapped in assembly.

It is. to be understood that the lines of demarcation may be produced inother ways than by the stencil belt illustrated in Fig. 1 and describedin copending application, and that said lines may also be produced bymeans other than by the application of color, that is, they may beproduwd by any surface effect creating a shadow or contrast, althoughfor the purpose of simulating siding, a very definite mortar-like lineis dedemarcation II, arearranged at one end edge of each element tocooperate with the stepped formation, and the lines of demarcationpreferably terminate short of the other end edge to provide a space 35which is to be overlapped in assembly, and said lines further terminateshort of the upper edge of eachelement, as at ll, to provide a spacewhich is overlapped by elements of the course above. The lines, ofcourse, may be continued over the portions which are to be overlapped,but such continuance would serve no function, the main feature of thearrangement being to so -position the lines that when there is adefinite overlap, there will be a perfect cooperation of the figures ofone element with the figures of overlapping elements. The locking tongue33 and slot 32, it is to be noted, are so positioned as to insure theabovementioned proper cooperation of the figur s.

While the elements have been described as formed from the usualcomposition material having a flexible base, they may be formed as rigidunits wherein the base is composed of rigid material, such as a mixtureof cement and asbestos, or the like. If built from rigid material, theelements would have the lines of demarcation delineated thereon in anysuitable manner to carry out the features of the invention. By the useof rigid material, it would be possible to manufacture a very attractiveform of siding having the necessary durability and fire-proof qualities,and at the same time simulating bricks, at an expense much less than theexpense ordinarily incurred in laying a brick siding.

Other changes and modifications may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention, and all of such changes are contemplated as maycome within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A building element comprising a base strip, a wear resistantsurfacing layer extending over the base strip on the face of the elementto be exposed when laid, and a design formed on said surfacing layersimulating the spaces between and surrounding a plurality of completedconfigurations, said design comprising an adhered layer of coloringmaterial of contrasting visual effect with the configurations, a portionof the design located between the ends of a configuration and extendingwithout the configurations where- ,by to provide marker means for thevertical and horizontal positioning of overlapping elements in assembly.to create a continuous area of staggered simulated configurations.

2. A brick and mortar simulating element and the like comprising a basestrip, a surfacing layer extending over the base strip on the face ofthe element to be exposed when laid, and a design formed on saidsurfacing layer simulating mortar joining a plurality of brick-likefigures, said design comprising an adhered layer of coloring material ofcontrasting visual effect with the bricklike figures, a portion of themortar design being located between the ends of a brick-like figure andextending vertically without the brick-like figures and adapted inassembly to provide a marker for the alignment with said brick-likefigures of edges of an overlapping strip of an adjacent course ofelements to create a continuous area of staggered simulated brick-likefigures separated by mortar joints.

3. A building element comprising a base strip,

a surfacing layer extending over the base strip,

and a design formed on the lower portion of said strip on said surfacinglayer simulating the vertically and horizontally disposed mortar linesbe .tween and surrounding a plurality of brick-like figures, said designcomprising an adhered layer 35 of coloring material of contrastingvisual effect with brick-like figures, certain mortar lines cooperatingwith edges of the element and others providing vertical extensionsthereof into the upper portion of the strip above the completed figuresand having a depth substantially the depth of a brick configuration,said extensions providing definite positioning means for the edges ofoverlapping elements of an overlying course whereby to complete otherbrick-like figures separated by mortar lines and to form a continuousarea thereof.

NORMAN P. BARSHBERGER.

